Opening Our Doors

We opened our studio to over 180 guests during Open House New York's festival weekend last month. Nikolas and our staff had the opportunity to share current in-progress commissions and past work with the public, providing a glimpse into our design and fabrication methods. Big shout out to OHNY for organizing, and to Stickbulb for fostering the LIC open house community.

I'll be honest, we approached this with some hesitation. Ben from Stickbulb, a neighboring lighting design studio, really encouraged us to participate and help build a stronger community of makers in Long Island City. The idea was to bring more visibility to the neighborhood's creative studios, and while I was initially on the fence, I'm really glad we threw in and went for it.

It's easy to get lost in your own head in this work. We tend to go deep—maybe too deep—and, introverted as many of us are, it's natural to become hyper-focused in the studio and lose connection to the world outside. We just don't do this sort of thing very often, typically staying lost in our own very narrow circles.

But from the moment we unlocked the doors, it was a huge success. People streamed through for about four hours straight. Jonah, Jesse, and I barely had a moment to catch our breath. There were young people, older visitors, families, all genuinely curious and engaged. Jesse held impromptu conversations around his CAD station, I walked people through my space where much of the model-making happens, and Jonah led tours throughout the studio, explaining the various custom machines we've developed for our specialized processes.

One of the most gratifying things about it was being able to walk people through the stuff we spend so much time thinking about. Having that reflected back at us gave us a little perspective on what we do. It was really rewarding to see people genuinely impressed with the care and thought that goes into our work, and some were just flat out gobsmacked, which was deeply gratifying.

Honestly, my only regret was being too busy talking about our own work to explore the other Open Houses. There were some fascinating options like a tour of the Con Edison power stations, and something related to New York's water infrastructure and filtration systems, which both looked incredibly cool. After we closed up, Jonah and I walked a couple blocks over to Stickbulb to wrap up the day. We spent some time with Russell, who founded their company, and he turned out to be a real kindred spirit. It was a great conversation, and I'm looking forward to having him back at our shop.

All in all, it was a blast. People seemed genuinely interested and excited about what we do, and it reminded us why staying connected to our community matters.